June 2

Chapter 7 pt. 8

The Rule of St. Benedict June 2

The fourth degree of humility is that he hold fast to patience with a silent mind when in this obedience he meets with difficulties and contradictions and even any kind of injustice, enduring all without growing weary or running away.

I find this translation very helpful in understanding this "degree"/step/rung of humility.  I struggle daily to "hold fast to patience with a silent mind" in the face of my circumstances, especially when my children passionately experience their own negative emotions and barrage my senses with their expressions of them.  It feels like they have been taught precisely how to get my goat by some wizened Zen master (with a mischievous twinkle in his eye).

One reason my grip on patience often slips is because I am actually holding more tightly to my expectations about how the world should appear than I am to my connection to Christ within, a connection maintained through a "silent mind" from which the quality of patience ensues.  When I add "Br. Chad being patient" to my list of expectations about how the world ought to proceed, I am setting myself up to be disappointed.  But when, through persistent spiritual practice, I am empowered to carry a silent mind with me and enabled, by the gift of Grace, to perceive the Christ Reality in the midst of my other sense perceptions, patience holds fast to me.  I am no longer at the mercy of my desires and expectations when I encounter circumstances hostile to them.

Br. Chad 2012